<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Aren't You Tired of Being Nice? by rebornlover</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25409641">Aren't You Tired of Being Nice?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebornlover/pseuds/rebornlover'>rebornlover</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stargirl (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Beth Chapel centric, Beth Chapel gets angry, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Episode: s1e10 Brainwave Jr.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:47:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>953</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25409641</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebornlover/pseuds/rebornlover</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth Chapel decides she's going to be giving Rick Tyler the silent treatment. Because she's Beth it takes a little bit of time to get to the silent part of that arrangement.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beth Chapel &amp; Henry King Jr., Beth Chapel &amp; Rick Tyler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Aren't You Tired of Being Nice?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I was trying to walk a line between Beth as she has been characterized in the show so far and what I'm hoping/expecting from her character arc in the future. If it feels a little OOC still let me know but please also remember that Beth (and all of the JSA) have just been through a scary life changing moment. Also as much as I can get down with Hour nite as a ship my main interest is in their current character dynamics and I think Beth and Rick are both going to have to reach a point where Beth is allowed to be angry with him (and other people) as the series goes on</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everyone in the school knew that Beth Chapel’s superpower was talking. Someone had once timed her as a (cruel) joke on a school field trip and her official record was 3 hours and 27 minutes on the topic of her family’s roach farm. A lot of the school had actively learned to tune her out and so, as much as it really did annoy Rick that she was having some issues grasping the need to be quieter about the JSA in school, she was absolutely correct that most of the school wasn’t acually hearing her.</p>
<p>But, now that they were teammates or whatever, Rick had been trying to be better about hearing Beth. Practising active listening and all that bs. So he thought it was likely he would have noticed pretty fast that she was giving him the silent treatment even if she hadn’t come right out and told him before she started.</p>
<p>‘Excuse me?’</p>
<p>‘I said, I don’t want to talk to you for a while Rick.’ Beth didn’t look up from where she was hunched over the desk in the Pit Stop, pouring obssesively over the books in front of her and taking furious notes.</p>
<p>‘You, Beth Chapel, the motor mouth of the school. You, don’t want to talk to me?’</p>
<p>‘I’m not the best at reading social cues Rick, it comes with being autistic. But its become increasingly obvious that you don’t care enough about my opinion to listen when I’m talking. So I’m done.’</p>
<p>‘I care about your opinion Beth.’</p>
<p>‘Oh!’ At this point she looked up at him with that fucking stare he hated. The one she had used to get him to back down after Cindy had gone after Court. ‘I was begging you to stop yesterday Rick. Begging! The only reason we got out of there is because of those attackers.’</p>
<p>‘Solomon Grundy-’</p>
<p>‘Killed your parents! I know Rick.’</p>
<p>‘No you don’t!’ his fist hit the table in front of her so hard it sent the books jumping into the air temporarily.</p>
<p>Beth stared at him with that look in her eyes again and instantly he felt 3 inches tall. Beth wasn’t like him and Court or even Yolanda. She didn’t have super strength or a staff or even any experience in the boxing ring. She had the goggle and her mind. And here he was towering over her knocking shit around like he wasn’t big enough to hurt her even without the hourglass.</p>
<p>‘You’re right, I don’t know Rick. I can’t even imagine what I would do if I lost my mom and dad, and I shouldn’t have said it that way’</p>
<p>‘Beth-’</p>
<p>‘But make no mistake about this Rick as much reason as you have to be upset, what you did yesterday was stupid! Solomon Grundy is one of the reasons the ISA was able to defeat the JSA Rick. He’s extremely dangerous and if you had succeeded in opening that door he would have been loose in the tunnels with us and our friends.’</p>
<p>‘I could take him on,’</p>
<p>‘You don’t know that for sure. And if you had needed help I would have had to leave you there to get the others. I couldn’t reach Chuck and I don’t have superpowers. Yesterday was one of the most awful days of my life Rick and it could have been so much worse.’</p>
<p>‘So why are you still here, huh?! You’re not like the rest of us Beth, you’re not connected to the JSA and the suit doesn’t give you any powers! Why don’t you just give Pat back the goggles and go back to your boring, predictable life?’</p>
<p>‘Because it’s my fault Rick!’</p>
<p>There was silence. Rick had <em><b>never</b></em> heard Beth Chapel yell at anybody. Not like that.</p>
<p>‘What are you talking about Beth?’</p>
<p>‘I was the one who said that we had to work with Henry for Court’s sake. He wouldn’t have been down there in the dungeons with us if I had just-’</p>
<p>Beth cut herself off with a sob. She bent over with both of her arms wrapped around herself like she was giving herself a hug.</p>
<p>‘If I had been able to do something, <em>anything </em>Henry might not be...’</p>
<p>Rick wasn’t used to comforting people. It wasn’t something he had had to do a lot growing up, with how few friends he made.</p>
<p>‘We ALL made the decision to go down there together to help Courtney. It wasn’t a smart decision and Henry didn’t deserve what happened to him but that’s not on you Beth.’</p>
<p>‘You’re wrong Rick, it is on me. It’s on all of us. We need to stop the ISA, but if they’re willing to kill their own children over this, then we’ve been drastically underestimating them and we’re lucky that none of us have been killed yet.’</p>
<p>Rick drew closer to the desk. Beth was still curled over in half but before he could... what touch her shoulder? Pull her in for a hug? He was even less equipped somehow to dole out physical comfort than he was verbal...she looked up at him and he had never been happier that he had somehow never gotten on Beth’s bad side in all his years growing up in this town. Beth Chapel had a glare like a lance, focused and sharp.</p>
<p>‘So...I’m gonna use Chuck and <b>all </b>of the resources at my disposal to find the information we need to take them down. And we’ll use that information to protect everyone else in Blue Valley but right now Rick, it’s more than clear to me that you want revenge more than you want to keep out town safe, and I don’t have time for it.’</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>